Chapter 22
Chapter
Twenty-Two
We supported Dorian between us, each step slow and careful as we guided him toward the mouth of the cave. His arm was slung across Zander’s shoulders, his face pale but his jaw clenched with the same unyielding pride I’d seen in both brothers.
The sky outside was a tapestry of motion. Crownwatch and Thrall Squad circled in the air like a storm of scales and wings. The formation was fluid, dragons in constant motion, like a living perimeter around us. The wind was stiff, charged with tension, and the horizon boiled with distant clouds.
Then a screech cut through the air, deep, resonant, not from one of our own. My heart leaped as Kaelith stiffened beneath my mind’s touch.
Foran emerged behind us, limping slightly, his right wing dragging just enough to make my stomach clench. He stopped at the edge of the rocks, his head high, his jaw set in the way only an ancient dragon could manage.
Zander’s eyes met mine, and for the first time, we shared something quiet. Concern.
That flight to Warriath wasn’t short. And it definitely wasn’t safe.
“Foran,” I said gently, “are you sure one of us shouldn’t take Dorian?”
The blue striker bared his teeth in a low growl, his eyes glowing like embers through mist.
Before he could respond, Kaelith’s voice stirred in my mind, measured, almost amused.
Foran chose the elder prince. He will fully heal in the next hour. His human rider will not hinder him.
“I’m sorry for doubting you,” I said aloud, bowing my head slightly to Foran. “I just… I don’t want anything to happen to you or Dorian. The enemy is almost upon us.”
Foran rumbled deep in his chest and shifted, lowering his body enough for Zander to help his brother climb onto his back.
Kaelith’s mind brushed mine again, but this time… it hesitated.
What is it? I asked.
She was quiet for a beat longer than usual.
Foran is surprised you are so… caring. Considering your upbringing.
I blinked, stung by how easily the words lodged themselves beneath my ribs. I mounted Kaelith without answering at first, the leather of the saddle still damp from the mist.
Don’t worry, I finally said, bitterness curling through the bond. I’m still a criminal.
Kaelith said nothing. She didn’t need to.
She launched into the air a second later, her wings cutting a clean path upward as I clung tight and rose with her.
But it was only the prelude.
A shadow slithered across the sky.
At first, I thought it was a trick of the clouds, the shifting dance of dragon wings against storm-gray. But then the light changed, dimmed, and I felt Kaelith tense beneath me.
That is not natural, she said, her voice coiling in my mind like smoke.
I didn’t respond. I just gripped the saddle tighter as the darkness spread like ink across the sky, swallowing the sun in its path.
Hold on, she warned, her muscles coiling as she adjusted in flight.
The black cloud surged toward us like a living thing, writhing and pulsing at the edges. The moment it reached the perimeter of our circling horde, it broke apart, dissolving like mist torn by wind to reveal what hid beneath.
Blood Fae.
Dozens of them. At least fifty.
Each rode a dragon black as pitch, their wings thinner, faster, shaped for speed and precision rather than brute strength. They shimmered with enchantments, their eyes glowing red or silver, their riders cloaked in armor that gleamed with rune-etched bone and deep-crimson steel.
I had seen the Blood Fae. But not ones dressed like this.
They were here for war.
Kaelith roared, her wings flaring wide as she veered toward Foran’s position. Hein mirrored her on the other side, the two larger dragons forming a protective triangle around the injured blue striker.
My eyes swept the sky for Seraveth.
But these dragons were smaller, sleeker. None bore her signature monstrous wingspan or the haunting, still grace she carried. These were soldiers. She was a general.
And she hadn’t come. Yet.
Crownwatch struck first.
Their formation shifted like a sword swinging down from the clouds. The sky erupted with flame and steel as dragons collided midair, shrieks echoing through the heavens.
Within seconds, we were all fighting for our lives.
A Blood Fae dove toward me, his dragon’s teeth flashing as they snapped close to Kaelith’s tail.
Kaelith twisted hard, and I flung myself to the side, barely avoiding a strike that would’ve opened me from shoulder to hip.
I swung my blade, sparks flying as it struck the rider’s curved sword. His eyes, solid red, locked on mine.
He grinned.
They’re after Dorian, I realized with a sick twist in my gut.
Zander’s voice cracked into my mind like a whip. They want him dead. You have to call the storm, Ashlyn. Now.
I didn’t hesitate.
I reached for it.
The sky pulsed in my chest, heat flooding through my limbs as the storm answered. Clouds swirled like a vortex above us, lightning crackling through the growing dark. Rain slammed down in sheets as I raised my hand, and the wind roared with me.
I aimed.
The bolt lanced from the sky, striking the black dragon on my tail.
It screamed as the blast knocked it backward, hurtling toward the sea below. Its rider clung on, his armor smoking, his spell shattering in flashes of broken magic.
I gasped, my magic nearly spent.
But just before the dragon hit the waves, its wings snapped open.
It recovered, blood trailing behind it, and soared back toward me like vengeance given form.
Kaelith snarled.
Again? she asked.
Again, I whispered.
Kaelith, I called through the bond, I have an idea.
What is it? she asked, voice low and coiled like lightning before it strikes.
Can you signal the others? Get the dragons to fly lower. Just for a moment. Make the Blood Fae think we’re getting tired—draw them in.
There was a pause, then a quiet hum of approval.
It will be done.
Around us, the sky churned with chaos, dragons spiraling, flame slicing through mist, the shriek of Blood Fae echoing like torn metal. But Kaelith angled downward, gliding low over the water with terrifying control, and I saw the others begin to mirror her.
And the Blood Fae followed.
They dove after us with vicious precision, their black dragons narrowing their formation, trying to press us closer to the sea. And more and more of them began swarming toward Foran, toward Dorian.
My heart thundered in my chest as I reached again.
I focused on my magic.
And the wind obeyed.
It rose like a beast, howling through my veins, tugging at my fingers as I called it, not above us, but far ahead. I shaped the chaos, the pressure, the fury, and aimed it a mile out, over open sea.
It slammed into the water like a volcano erupting beneath the waves.
Kaelith bucked beneath me from the shock, but I held firm, as the sea reared.
A twenty-foot wave.
A wall of water rising from the ocean’s surface, drawn by the force I’d unleashed.
I felt it coming even before I saw it, the pressure rolling toward us like a freighted gale, wind and sea hissing, screaming, tearing toward everything in its path.
Kaelith!
Yes.
Pull up—NOW!
Her wings snapped wide as she veered skyward, muscles surging as she clawed at the air. The horde followed in an instant—Zander, Riven, Ferrula, every dragon pivoting with desperate speed as the wave rushed beneath us like a living mountain.
Kaelith’s claws skimmed the water, slicing the foam as we rose.
Foran just cleared the crest, one wing dipping dangerously low, but he kept climbing, Dorian clinging to his saddle like a ghost.
The Blood Fae weren’t so lucky.
Several of their dragons failed to pull up in time, caught too low, too focused on the kill. The wave caught them mid-flight, dragging them beneath with a roar that swallowed their screams.
It crashed into the rocks where Dorian had taken refuge earlier, pulverizing the shoreline into jagged ruin.
And when the sea calmed, it left behind wreckage… and silence.
I looked back at the devastation I’d summoned, at what I had done.
The sky was chaos, blades of flame, roars that split the clouds, the force of magic pressing against my skin with every beat of Kaelith’s wings. Blood Fae dragons dove and struck in precise, lethal patterns, but none of them came for me.
They were circling Zander’s flank, pushing him hard, hammering his defenses, but every time I turned my blade toward one, they veered away.
They’re avoiding you, Zander said through the bond, frustration laced in his voice. I think they have orders not to kill you.
Guess that first guy didn’t get the memo, I replied dryly, gripping my reins tighter.
But his words settled something dangerous in me. If I wasn’t a target… maybe I could be a shield.
If they can’t kill me, I said, we should put Dorian on Kaelith. Foran’s recovering, he can fight if he’s free.
Kaelith didn’t wait for Zander’s response. Her voice echoed like thunder through my mind.
I have already told Foran. He approves.
Below us, Foran’s massive form shifted through the air, blood glinting against his blue scales. He was flying better now, his right wing holding steadier, his growls sharpening into something hungry.
How do we make the transfer? I asked, watching him bank closer.
Leave that to me, Kaelith replied.
She dipped sharply, her body folding inward as she spiraled beneath Foran. The wind screamed around us, but she held firm as the blue striker adjusted his flight path to match hers.
Foran descended just enough, wings taut and level, and I caught sight of Dorian leaning forward in the saddle. His armor was dented, blood drying at his collar, but his eyes were clear.
He didn’t hesitate.
He jumped.
Dorian slipped from Foran’s saddle like it was just another drill, dropping nimbly onto Kaelith’s back. His boots landed behind me with a solid thud, and he immediately sat down and grasped my waist, steadying himself with practiced grace.
“I’m never going to live this down, am I?” he muttered into my ear.
I couldn’t help the grin that cracked across my face. “Not if I can help it.”
Above us, Foran let out a roar that shook the clouds and dove straight into the nearest black dragon, claws tearing across its shoulder with brutal precision.
Dorian sighed, the sound wistful. “I swear, my dragon gets to have more fun than me.”
I laughed, shifting forward slightly to adjust for the extra rider.
Kaelith, I called. Let’s show him we can do more than run.
With pleasure, she purred, and we dove back into the fray, flame curling at her jaws and the wind screaming with us.
Kaelith’s wings thundered through the air, her body coiled with tension beneath me.
I could feel her frustration, not fear, but restraint.
The Blood Fae still weren’t engaging her directly.
Every time one of their dragons came close, they’d veer off at the last second, like something unseen pressed them away.
They’re running from me, she snarled in my mind.
I didn’t answer, watching as the swarm of black dragons began to pull back, retreating in staggered, careful lines. The last few made a few probing strikes toward Crownwatch, but none dared cross Kaelith’s path.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, a black cloud billowed out of the air above them.
It didn’t drift or pulse like a real storm. It held in place, dense and perfectly still, like it was waiting for something.
The remaining Blood Fae dragons dove into it, one by one disappearing into the smoke. And seconds later, the cloud dissipated, as if sucked into the wind.
They were gone.
I stared at the now-empty sky, adrenaline still buzzing in my veins.
“What kind of cloud is that?” I asked, twisting to glance at Dorian behind me.
He was pale, his arm tight around my waist, but his voice was firm. “The Blood Fae have a member with a skill like Remand’s. Another can create a container, a kind of stasis pocket, that lets him transport multiple targets at once.”
I frowned, my mind catching on the term. “Stasis pocket?”
“A space between time,” he explained. “Just long enough for someone like Remand to move them.”
I blinked. “Convenient.”
“Terrifying,” Dorian corrected, and then added, “and useful.”
Right. Battle manipulation. He could see the pattern of war like pieces on a board.
“Why didn’t you give us any orders during the skirmish?” I asked.
His lips curved slightly against my shoulder, amused. “How do you know I didn’t?”
I hesitated. “Well… I don’t.”
“I ran every scenario as soon as the first strike fell,” he said, voice quieter now. “Every variation that ended in a win for us… you called that wave.”
My breath hitched. “Oh. So you knew how the battle would end.”
“I would’ve intervened,” he said, “if you’d made another choice.”
A beat of silence passed between us, and then I asked, “Do you want to return to Foran?”
“I would,” he muttered, “but jumping down to Kaelith tore open the wound at my side.”
“Shit.” I leaned forward instinctively, bracing us both.
Kaelith, I called, urgency biting into the bond. You need to fly faster. We need to get him home.
Then hold on, she growled, wings tucking tighter.
And we moved, the world blurring around us as Kaelith tore through the sky like vengeance with a name.